- What's up socials.
Welcome back to my channel.
Today I'm gonna talk about being your own boss.
And the things that
have helped me in the time that I have started
working for myself.
It's kind of funny because it feels like just yesterday
when I left my full-time regular job.
Before I realized what I really wanted to sort of do
with my life.
I went and worked in regular corporate America
for five plus years, actually I think it was almost six
years by the time I was like oh my gosh, I think
I have to go and pursue something else.
And you always kind of are hesitant to take those
risks, but you have to if you wanna do big things.
And I'm really fortunate that I was able to do that
and not have to go back to plan B or plan A or
whichever the case may be in your situation.
That was back in 2011 that I was really full-time
and on my own, so it's been a good six more years
that I've had a lot of experience.
I've started a second business.
So I've got sort of like two irons in the fire that do
like, 50 million different things, and I think that
there is a lot that can be said for having all of that,
and I think it's because of the things that I've done
to set myself up for success.
So I wanted to go over some of those things with you,
to kind of give you some guidance on what it
really takes to be your own boss, and how you
kind of make that happen on a day to day basis.
It is a lot of hard work.
If you're lookin' for the shortcut crazy town thing
that you think is just gonna let you be able to
quit your job and live the life, that's not what
this video is about.
This is gonna be a reminder about how much hard work
it really is to be the one in charge.
If you're into this kind of thing, make sure you
subscribe to this channel.
I make new videos every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday,
and I wouldn't want you to miss the next one.
When you're your own boss, one of the most important
things is to focus on what you are best at.
It's really tough in the beginning to not wanna take
a paycheck, or a retainer, or a new client on that
just thinks you can help them, even though they
have some other idea about what you do well
versus what you actually do well.
But remember that the more you stay focused on the one
thing that you're absolutely the best at,
the more successful you'll be.
You also won't burn out as quickly at being your own boss,
because you'll stay very much in line with why
you're doing this in the first place, and what
you actually ideally like to do.
You may think you need to add different things to
your plate also because of other competition or something
out there that you're like well, this person's doing this,
and that person's doing that, I should be doing that, too.
Remember to keep your mission in mind, and stick with it.
Because if you don't do what you're best at all the time,
you're just gonna be some mediocre person, freelancer,
company, whatever it is, and that's not gonna get
you anywhere in the long run.
That's not gonna make you do the big things, get
the big clients, get the big projects, make the big money.
So make sure you stay in line with what you are best at.
Really give that some thought.
You guys have heard me say this one a lot, but live
by your calendar.
There is one absolute nonnegotiable for every
single human being on this Earth, no matter what
they're doing, and that's the amount of time that they have.
So, when you look at things as sort of like a task list
instead of how much actual time you have to get
things done, you're much less likely to accomplish
a whole lot in a short amount of time.
And in a world where you really need to be reaching
for the long, long game by doing a lot of things
up to that point, you've gotta stay focused on
getting things done, and the only way to do that is
actually manage how much time it takes
to do all those things.
So you have to live by your calendar.
Check out my video about this.
I've talked about this ad nauseum with you, and, but
if you need a refresher, I mean I think everybody does.
There's always a little bit more that we can be doing
about making the most of our time.
I'm actually thinking about sort of doing a spinoff of
this concept and doing a video on how to stop wasting time.
Because I think that there's a way you can consider
what you do on a daily basis that may seem like downtime,
is actually wasting time.
Let me know in the comments if you wanna
see a video like that.
But the point is, you only get so much time, and
so does everybody else.
You can compare yourself to what everybody else
is getting done in that amount of time, but you
are comparing and they are getting things done.
So, stick with your calendar, figure out how much time
it takes to do what you want to do.
All the things, especially the things on this list,
and make it happen.
This is a big one.
Practice selling yourself.
Some people forget when they become their own boss
that they are actually also their lead salesperson.
This is a really big issue for people that had
a regular job and have never been in sales, and
don't really understand what it means to convert
a sale of something.
Like, if you're a graphic designer and you want
to get a client on a website design, you have to
convince that person as to why you're the best for the job,
and why you do the work they want the absolute best
and so why they should hire you.
And then does the price point match.
There's a lot of talk that goes into that.
There's a lot of influence that goes into that.
So I think one of the biggest things that's helped me
realize I have to be a salesperson as much as
I am a marketer, I'm better at one than the other.
I have to practice the selling stuff.
My biggest piece of advice on this really is, just
how do you talk about the sale, and
how do you
wanna talk about it, and how can you keep that
verbiage in mind all the time.
So you're not fishing for new ideas or things to say
whenever you are having a sales conversation.
One big one is just getting in the habit of saying
here is what I typically do.
Instead of, oh well, for you this is a little bit different,
but we might be able to make something happen.
And I mean, if you don't talk like you know what
you are doing, that's gonna come off right away
in the sales process, and that's gonna be
very, very big for hesitance of somebody converting.
So practice what it's like to sell something to someone.
Whether you're actually doing it on a regular
basis cause you're picking up the phone and calling
potential clients or potential customers.
Or, you're just talking to yourself.
I will actually practice this in email writing as well,
because of how often I am having this topic come up
in a digital format and not in person.
Which can be easier, but it can also get misconstrued.
So you have to be really clear on how you do things,
and what your system is, and how somebody hires
you or works with you.
Just practice that.
Because you don't wanna find yourself in a situation
of wow, I really marketed myself really well,
made all the vlogs, I went to networking events
and now somebody wants to hire me, and I don't
know what to say.
That's bad.
You've got to be able to get that person on board with you.
So, practice selling yourself.
I love number four because it's all about how you
get things done by knowing who you are.
And that's identifying how you develop habits.
I highly recommend a book by Gretchen Rubin that I
haven't even read yet because I am absolutely,
positively sure this is a thing, and it is called
the four tendencies.
I'm planning on picking it up, but I've already known
sort of a little bit about the content of the book,
because she has a quiz.
It's a totally free quiz online, I have done a video
about it before.
You guys gave some crazy answers to it when we
did it, and I thought it was so much fun to find that out.
But it basically indicates to you, based on the type
of person you are, which you identify in this quiz.
How you develop a habit.
Are you better driven internally on your own
when you convince yourself to do it?
That's me, I'm a questioner.
Or, are you more likely to be driven by somebody else
telling you what to do?
That's an obliger.
And then there's somebody that will listen to both parties,
and that's an upholder.
And there's people that don't listen to either one,
and they're rebels.
And understanding which mentality you have, is a
massively helpful way in understanding what you
need to do to develop a habit.
Go check out the video I did on that,
it was a long time ago, and I know I haven't read
the book yet and I'm recommending it.
But, I promise I'll probably do another video on it
where I have read it and totally recommend it.
Because, I'm not kidding.
Like, I have wine nights with girlfriends and
we talk about the four tendencies.
And how we operate, and how oh my gosh, I'm totally
being an obliger today.
It is literally so much information that you need.
Instead of trying to be someone else, be you,
but adapt to who you are.
When you are trying to be your own boss, or want
to be your own boss, you have to consistently share
thought leadership of your expertise.
I do that through videos like this, sometimes I podcast,
sometimes I write blog posts on Linkedin.
Whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
You have to consistently show up and let people
know what you're good at.
Cause otherwise, they're not gonna know.
So, that's really difficult for being your own boss
when you have no business, nobody's coming in.
Figure out where your best medium is, obviously we
talk about vlogging a lot here, so you could try a video.
But if it's something else that you feel more
comfortable at, get consistent at it.
You can say I'm too busy doing work, but when the
well runs dry, because you didn't let the rest of
the world know except for your first two clients,
what you do, then you're in trouble.
So, you have to be marketing yourself all the time,
and then you have to be selling yourself.
And then you keep the business coming in,
that's how the business grows.
Yes, you should be making time to do work, do work.
But, you also have to grow the business.
Even if you're just growing the business to be a
one woman show forever and ever and ever, that's cool.
But you still need those leads.
A really big thing about being your own boss
is balancing your time in all places.
That was sort of the best way I came up
with summarizing this.
But, how much time are you spending at the computer?
Or with family?
Or in just like, time to yourself?
Time at the gym?
Time to eat a proper meal?
All of these things are sort of the nurturing of
you as a human, and you are not gonna be at
your highest potential unless you tap into that.
So, sometimes I'll have a morning where I'm like,
it's cool I'm not gonna eat breakfast, and then I eat
some ridiculous number of tacos for lunch, and
I have screwed the rest of my day.
Because I am not productive anymore.
My belly is full, I wanna take a nap, and I am
not at the optimum level.
So, eating at the right times, eating the right things,
how am I spending time in that space?
How long are you at the computer?
Are you sitting there for too long?
Are you stepping away and looking at something
not digital for a little while?
To make sure that your eye muscles are moving
around a little bit more healthy.
The time in the spaces.
It is so, so easy to be like,
I'm gonna sit at this computer until I get the job done.
Because I have to.
We all got deadlines, I get that.
We're probably gonna have a lot of moments like that,
I get that.
But you need to have a healthy balance of it,
every single day, for every week, for every month
and year that you work for yourself.
You're not gonna just sit at the computer for
16 hours a day, and think you're gonna get further
ahead that way.
You're actually not.
You need to do a lot more to be healthy as a human
to move forward.
So, consider how you're spending time in all places.
This is a big one.
Keep in contact with whomever you meet.
You never know when someone's gonna be a lead
or a client or hire you for a job.
It doesn't matter what it is, when you make the time
to meet people, that's why we have social media.
I know a lot of people are forgetting about that
it's because of the people, it's not just because
you can put things out there.
There are people that are getting your message.
They might help you, they might lift you up.
But if you lose track of them, that's really, really
tough to make the most of.
So, when you meet people at networking events,
what are you doing to keep track of them in a database
and followup with them?
I did a video about the apps that I like as a vlogger,
and one of them was Highrise.
That's where I keep all the people, and notes on people.
I'm like, don't forget this person's birthday so
I can send them a nice card.
Little things.
Keep in contact, because every time your name
shows up, the boss, they're gonna be like I remember her.
Oh my gosh, that's so nice, and what is she doing?
Oh, that's so funny, we need that.
Keep in contact with people that you meet.
Social media's a much larger group of people you
may not have one on one contact with.
So we stay consistent on those platforms to
stay visible to them.
But the ones you have a more intimate relationship with,
on, you met at a conference, or in some networking event,
or you simply met on Skype and had a virtual coffee.
Whatever it is, keep in contact.
Respect and study amazing people.
It doesn't even have to be somebody that has
five billion followers on Instagram.
It doesn't.
The definition of amazing people could be your grandmother.
Who accomplished a lot in her lifetime.
What can you do to absorb some of that success?
What did they do right?
What are those things that you want to learn?
Similarly, you can look at people online and say
oh my gosh, this is so awesome that they're doing this.
I feel like this is totally where I should be headed.
I just, I aspire to this so much.
And it kinda makes you hate them a little bit.
Like oh my God, why did she get there first?
No, no, no.
I want it to be me.
Take the opportunity to observe everything.
We have the resources to watch every single video
someone's made, listen to all their podcasts,
read all their blog posts, look at their Instagrams,
study the layouts of things, and absorb where the
success is coming from.
The other thing is, you may be looking at things
that look pretty, but aren't actually successful.
So instead of just kind of kicking yourself that
you might not be where you want to be, just look
at what success really could be for you, and
say how can I learn from this and implement it.
Meet with people.
Study things online.
But then actually spend time doing, because if
you do too much like, stalking, and do nothing
with that information, we're not in a good place, then.
That's not studying, okay.
But you do need to get activated and sometimes those
things online can be actually very motivating
if you allow it to be.
Instead of knocking other people down, or feeling
insecure because you haven't done something, lift
them up by showing respect and observing what
you could be doing better.
Number nine is watch your pride.
This is a really, I think very important one.
Because when you become your own boss, suddenly you
are the president and CEO of a company.
Or your life, and that is really cool, and it can
get to your head a little bit.
I know I've been in situations where I'm like,
uh, I should be making way more money on that thing.
I should just charge a lot more, I know I deserve it.
I'm good at it, they're trained to screw me over.
That's not the case at all, people have budgets.
They genuinely wanna know how you do business.
And if they make a suggestion, you should not be
feeling like your pride is stepped on, and just
simply, maybe correct something.
But also, sometimes we give ourselves a little bit
too much credit, that hey, I've done one speaking
engagement, so therefore my next one is gonna
be for 25 thousand dollars.
That's not gonna happen.
You need to work your butt off.
So do not let your pride get in the way just because
somebody told you you were really good at what you do,
you still have to put a lot of time in
to earn your keep.
I can think of many successful people that I've either
talked to or studied or they raised their price
before they really should have.
Because they took the ego elevator up a little
bit too high, and we need a little bit of ego
because we have to be able to sell ourselves.
But, check your pride at the door.
There's still gonna be things you have to do for free,
there are still things that are not gonna pay
as much as they would, but if you want to be
doing it, make that balance for yourself.
Do not put yourself in a strenuous financial situation
that is not healthy, but respect the fact that there
is a process here.
There are no overnight successes, you gotta
work your butts off.
Because the final thing here, is to have fun.
And genuinely, you've got to find those moments
where you are having fun.
Where there is something fun about what you do,
cause otherwise, being your own boss really sucks.
Like, it has so much work, there's so many things.
There's like, taxes, and accounting, and
hiring people, and like, working for yourself.
Talking to yourself, cause nobody's around.
There are so many downsides.
If you don't have that silver lining of oh,
this is why I do all this hard work.
To get to that point, and be able to be like yes.
It might be really, really, really, really, really hard
sometimes, but if you're not having fun in a
good percentage of it, just because maybe you
like the journey, you like the work.
Then you're doing the wrong thing.
And you're probably listening to a bunch of people
that are trying to convince you to work for yourself
cause it's the cool thing to do right now.
And it may not be for you.
As a matter of fact, this advice video I suppose,
could be called be your own employee.
It doesn't have to mean that you work for yourself,
you get to do all of these things and be a successful
intrapreneur.
It's about who you are and what you really
wanna do, and what is that thing that gives you
validation that you really did achieve
the thing you wanted to.
That's what you've got.
That has got to be what you do.
Those are my 10 success tips for being your own boss.
I'd love to hear if you have one.
Leave one in the comments below, and also
like this video if it was helpful for you today.
That's all for today, socials.
Thank you for tuning in, I appreciate it.
As always, remember to subscribe for good vibes.
And remember to be your own boss.
So that you can go after the life you want.
Cheers.